The background description in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,683 issued to Neumann et al., entitled Surgical Closure, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, reviews various complications associated with abdominal surgery and the process of post-operative cleansing of the abdominal cavity. Neumann et al. teaches a somewhat complex solution to establishing a re-enterable wound closure, namely, a flexible fabric or plate like securing device that covers the wound, provides a suction tube, and extends outward into a larger, sealable tube that may be re-entered as needed before final closure.
Many other techniques for post-operative temporary wall closure after abdominal surgery have been described. Studying these techniques enables the establishment for objective criteria by which to judge the suitability of various proposed temporary closure modalities.
A suitable temporary closure should be. simple, easy to apply, effective in containing the abdominal contents, minimally interfere with the abdominal organs and surrounding tissue, minimally, if at all, promote the formation of adhesions and fistula, and promote process towards definitive closure.
A problem common to many existing methods of temporary wound closure is adhesion formation between the tissue and the material in contact with the wound. Such adhesions are undesirable, and complicate the process of preparing the wound site for final closure. Placing porous materials such as gauze, surgical towels and even open cell foam, in direct contact with the open wound site, further complicates final closure by providing increased surface area that promotes adhesion formation, thereby making removing this material even more difficult.
Maintaining negative pressure on a wound site without creating conditions that make the removal of the temporary wound covering material more difficult, is manifestly beneficial. A desirable layered wound covering permits both the application of negative pressure, and the resultant removal of exuded fluids. Such a covering is re-enterable for the purpose of cleansing the wound without trauma to the wound site. Such a wound covering would be most advantageous for open abdomen surgical wounds. These devices and techniques could also be used on other types of open wounds that present a difficult healing process.
The need for a wound covering, and therapeutic treatment system that allows the application of therapeutic negative pressure without causing increased adverse side effects to the open wound site is apparent. Presently, no such wound covering, or treatment system is known to exist. It is towards the filing of this need that the present invention is directed.